page_title: Princess Theatre (Edmonton)
section_title: Old Strathcona Foundation
hierarchical_section_title: Princess Theatre (Edmonton) / Old Strathcona Foundation
caption_attribution_description: English: The Strathcona Public Library in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
context_page_description: The Princess Theatre is a two-screen art-house cinema located at 10337 Whyte Avenue in Edmonton's historic Old Strathcona neighbourhood. The building was designed by prominent Edmonton architects Wilson and Herrald, a firm responsible for the design of many other Edmonton heritage sites. It became Edmonton's oldest surviving theatre after the demolition of the Gem Theatre in 2006. The building currently houses the main 400-seat theatre as well as the 100-seat Princess II, located in the basement.
  It was originally known as the McKernan Block, after John W. McKernan, the building's original financier, owner, and manager.
  The building and the theatre within has changed ownership several times, and its fortunes have largely depended on the state of the Canadian theatre industry at the time. It spent a dozen years as a retail space from 1958–1970, and six years from 1970-1976 mainly exhibiting mainstream pornographic films. The Princess was operated successfully as a repertory theatre from 1978 to late 1996, after which it became a first run theatre. Until 2016, the Princess was operated as a first run theatre by Edmonton's native Magic Lantern Theatres.
context_section_description: The Old Strathcona Foundation, at that time a publicly funded community development initiative, leased the struggling Klondike in 1977 and began searching for ways to use the space. A member of the general public, Frank Grisdale, answered the solicitation, writing a paper outlining how the building could be successfully operated as a repertory theatre under its original name. The foundation was apparently impressed by his proposal, and Grisdale was installed as the Princess Theatre's director upon completion of renovations in 1978.
  The theatre was profitable by its second year, and earned the Old Strathcona Foundation $1 million between 1979 and 1989. This was in no small part due to Grisdale's vision of a repertory film house dedicated to championing the independent film genre. During his tenure, Grisdale also introduced live performances, including touring acts such as Sneezy Water's "Hank Williams - The Show He Never Gave". After firmly establishing the Princess as a significant alternative arts establishment in Edmonton, Frank Grisdale resigned and Susan Morrow became the manager in 1981. Morrow expanded the theatre's program to a glossy monthly magazine. The theatre was offering Saturday morning cartoons, student pricing, and yearly memberships which all contributed to its steadily increasing attendance.
  By 1982, the Old Strathcona Foundation was confident enough in the theatre's prospects to purchase the building outright from Towne Cinema. By this time, the asking price for the building had dropped to $425,000, which was estimated to be $8000 below its real market value. The Foundation began to make major upgrades and repairs to the interior of the building. A fundraising drive in 1987 allowed 422 modern sized plush seats to be installed, lowering the theatre's original seating capacity by almost 240. In 1989, a soundproofed cry room was installed with an independent sound system, allowing patrons with small children to come to films without worry.
  1992 was the theatre's high-water mark, with a record number of tickets and memberships sold. A state of the art video projection system was installed in June 1993, but in that year revenue declined by $65,000, at least partly because of the growth of home video. The Old Strathcona Foundation began to see the theatre as a liability, and their confidence in the theatre was shaken when Susan Morrow quit her position as manager after having worked at the Princess for fifteen years.
caption: The Old Strathcona Foundation's offices were in the Strathcona Public Library until the mid-1990s
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